Israel
Yesterday we bid a very sad farewell to little Lir who, with her parents, jetted off to visit her Safta in Tel Aviv for 2 long months! I needed to be sure she had all the superfluous doodads she might want during her stay so, I packed her a sweet little owl backpack from Skip*Hop full of fun things from her Doda and Dodo.
One of our hands-down favorite crews bombing the walls of Tel Aviv is the Haifa-based Broken Fingaz Crew. The 10-year-strong foursome (Tant, Unga, Dezo, and Kip) have a hypnotizing and intricate style which recalls 1960’s psychedelic posters, old school American comics, and B-rated horror flick poster typography…
A little bit Steampunk, a tad industrial loft makeover, these upcycled KOZO lamps are being produced by a 7-member collective called DEMO Design Clinic working out of Florentin (Tel Aviv’s Williamsburg doppelgänger)…
End of August or not – these past few days in Tel Aviv have felt like the doggiest days of summer yet. I know autumn is around the corner but 45ºC? Really? What to do when nothing you own is cool enough but you don’t want to blow all your hard earned cash on what should be your fall/winter wardrobe? Um… multitask of course!
The work of Raw-Edges is not for crowd-followers or wallflowers. Indeed, the pieces are ballsy, sometimes rough, often bright and clashy. It’s the sort of furniture that a more timid houseguest would veer away from – never daring to plop down on the “Volume” couch, for example.
Ever since we left Brooklyn for our summer stint in Israel, YZ and I have had nothing but internet issues. Slow as snails. Effectively exiled from the web, we’ve had no choice but to hit the beach as many times as possible. Every morning we’ve been hopping into the VW and zipping to the north and south of Tel Aviv in search of the perfect swimming spot…
A house isn’t a home without a cozy nook for reading–preferably illuminated by something striking, simple, and versatile like this 001 model by Naama Hofman. Made of a cleverly angled iron rod and acrylic tube filled with 120 LED lights, this has got to be one of the niftiest reading aids I’ve come across in a while. The design is such that you can place it any which way on a table top, or hang it from the ceiling or wall…
Our baby niece Lir is pretty much the apple of YZ’s and my eye, making it hard to resist buying her every little cute thing that we come across. But, when we stumbled upon a beautiful striped bunny by Tel Aviv label Timo in a boutique in Jaffa, we just had to add the critter to Lir’s collection of toys. Totally in line with Lir’s parent’s philosophy of hugging (not mugging) the earth, each toy is…
Holy gods of fashion! Everything, just everything, is spot-on with this Alon Livne campaign I found on Mitchatnim.co.il. The collection (for bridesmaids perhaps?!) is worn by a waify, pixie-esque model in creepy bug-like poses sporting headpieces fit for any good Cleopatra impersonator. The soft, Victorian color palette brilliantly contrasts the dark, lurking feeling of the clothes, of which I would wear every darned piece…
There are few things more rewarding than antique shopping and Tel Aviv’s Jaffa neighborhood (one of the oldest port cities in the world) is brimming with boutiques where you can spend days clambering through mountains of tchotckes and treasures. For such a rigorous underdaking one needs proper breakfast, and there’s no better place for a mid-morning boost than Jaffa foodie stronghold, Dr. Shakshouka…
Ever wonder what the Hoopoe (national bird of Israel) looks like in the creatively bursting brain of Tel Aviv-based illustrator/art director Gal Shkedi? Well, thanks to this uber-approachable ad campaign by BBDO Israel for the Israel Nature and Parks Authority, you now know: scruffy and chamood (cute) but a wee bit depressed-looking too — the standard chasm that exists in so many of Shkedi’s riotous characters…
Just wanted to post a little OTOTO update (check out the intro post here!) – since their latest product, the Tea Sub tea steeper, is LOL genius. Get the kitchen trinket here for approx. €10 or head over to OTOTO to check out the Tel Avivi design house’s full inventory! Don’t know where to buy loose-leaf tea? Check out my good friend Jodi’s amazing online mega-teahouse, Sympathy for the Kettle! Try the Harlequin Blend (Label designed by yours truly »pat pat«) – a smooth black tea with blackberries, elderberries and nettle leaf.
This holiday season, whether you’re driving over the hill and through the woods or taking a transatlantic aeroplane to get to grandma’s house, the better you pack the smoother your journey will be. The comfort of long travels comes down to one essential piece of luggage: the Carry-On (or, if you’re roadtripping, the one bag you don’t chuck in the trunk). When the wonderful Jee Kim, founder of Peasants and Travelers, sent us the P&T Doctor’s Bag to test drive, I immediately knew that this hard-shelled beauty was born to make my flights to Marseille and Tel Aviv more bearable…
